The night was hazy and indistinct as a black business vehicle drove in from the distance.
After pulling into the garage at the entrance and parking neatly, a middle-aged man stepped out of the car, his face twisted with visible inner conflict.
After getting married, Yaga Masamichi had chosen to live in a residential district on the outskirts of Tokyo, not too far from the city yet removed enough to feel quiet. The population density was low, cursed spirits were few, and security was relatively high—making it a preferred area for faculty members of Tokyo Jujutsu High. The house itself was an old-style detached home with permanent ownership rights: two stories tall, complete with a yard, a parking space, and a storage shed, the latter usually used to keep a jujutsu sorcerer's private belongings.
Yaga Masamichi returned home and changed his shoes in the entryway. His wife, having received his message, came out to greet him.
"Masamichi, you said you wanted to discuss something with me?" she asked. "What is it?"
Like many Japanese housewives, Mrs. Yaga did not work outside the home. Her husband's income was more than sufficient, so she only needed to devote part of her energy each day to managing the household. The rest of her time was free, allowing her to enroll in various hobby classes if she wished.
Compared to her friends who lived in central Tokyo, she felt that the burden of family life was not heavy—only that it was somewhat dull. Her husband never allowed her to go to the school and never spoke about his work. Her personal hobby was knitting dolls. She found the dolls adorable, yet there was nothing for her to help with; she did not even have the opportunity to deliver meals or to meet the wives of other Tokyo Jujutsu High teachers.
For a long time, Mrs. Yaga had been isolated from her husband's social circle. It was not until this year's cherry blossom viewing in April that things began to improve slightly. She finally met the four students her husband taught and gained new topics of conversation with her friends.
They were four outstanding young boys and girls, growing up strong and well, and they filled Mrs. Yaga with pride in her husband.
In the living room on the first floor, Mrs. Yaga brought over tea. She heard Yaga Masamichi—who had not yet had time to change out of his teaching uniform—begin to speak.
"It's like this. I have a student. You've met him once—the one with black hair and black eyes…"
Mrs. Yaga's memory of the cherry blossom viewing was still vivid. "I remember," she said. "He was the one standing in the middle when you took the photo."
She asked gently, "Did something happen to him?"
The calmness in his wife's voice cooled the surge of emotion in Yaga Masamichi's chest, allowing him to steady himself.
"His name is Asou Akiya. He was born in January and is fifteen years old this year. At the beginning of last year, he lost both of his parents and now has no legal guardian. He has some familial ties to another student with white hair, but they aren't particularly close. As a matter of fact, his enrollment procedures were handled entirely by me—through my interview and recommendation—so you could say we share a certain kind of fate."
"He's talented, intelligent, and gets along very well with his classmates. He's also the class representative of the class I'm in charge of."
"I originally intended to take him in as my personal disciple today, but then some unexpected developments occurred."
"I… I want to consider adopting him."
Yaga Masamichi's voice was strained, as though he were wrestling with himself, barely able to resist the powerful urge to make Asou Akiya his own adopted son.
"Fifteen years old?" Mrs. Yaga's first reaction was that the child was already too old.
"I don't agree." She poured cold water over her husband's thoughts, extinguishing his momentum without hesitation. "If we're going to adopt a child with no blood relation to us, why wouldn't I choose a five- or six-year-old from an orphanage instead?"
Mrs. Yaga did not appear as mature or aged as Yaga Masamichi looked. She considered herself still relatively young and believed there was hope for her to have a child of her own.
"Masamichi," she continued, "you also said he has some connection to a major family, which means there are people behind him who can take care of him. Why do you have to pity your student to this extent? Even among my distant relatives, there are teenagers who lost their parents and lack proper care, yet I've never heard you talk about taking them in. There's nothing wrong with caring about your students, but you have to think about the consequences."
Yaga Masamichi hesitated, words caught in his throat. His wife was underestimating Asou Akiya—gravely so.
A parentless teenager from a distant relative's family, to put it bluntly, was not even qualified to be compared to Asou Akiya. Leaving aside acquired abilities and education, for an ordinary person to awaken the talent of a jujutsu sorcerer while standing on the brink of life and death was a one-in-ten-thousand rarity.
Mrs. Yaga voiced another concern, her tone growing cautious. "What if people at the school start gossiping about you? Saying you're currying favor with a great family, raising someone else's child for them? Our family can't compare to those powerful clans—why get involved in that kind of mess?"
Her words struck home, awakening Yaga Masamichi to the danger of rumors and slander.
Asou Akiya had ties to the Gojo family; he had been selected by them as a companion student to look after the clan's young master.
The Higher-Ups and the Three Great Clans held differing stances, their relationship delicate and fluctuating between harmony and conflict. Yaga Masamichi had been chosen by the Higher-Ups to take charge of Tokyo Jujutsu High's educational affairs. He had no backing clan of his own and no need to rely on the power of the Three Great Families.
If he were to adopt Asou Akiya, it might shift his perceived position, leading the Higher-Ups to believe that he was siding with the Three Great Clans instead.
He needed the trust of the Higher-Ups.
Without it, his dream of continuing to teach and nurture students at Tokyo Jujutsu High in the years to come would be severely undermined.
"Ah—" Yaga Masamichi let out a long sigh, reason and emotion locked in combat within him. He understood all too well that the adult world had a way of turning even the simplest matters into tangled knots. "I'll think it over again. I promise you I won't make any rash decisions."
Mrs. Yaga finally felt at ease. She urged him to take a bath and rest early, adding that it would be best if the two of them could have a child of their own.
Yaga Masamichi's old face flushed faintly red, yet his spirits remained low.
He felt listless, burdened by the sense that he had betrayed a student's trust.
That night, Yaga Masamichi tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Scenes from the daytime conversation in his office replayed endlessly in his mind. He had asked his student why he was willing to give up the status of a disciple in favor of adoption, and the student had only answered that all those external things paled in comparison to Yaga-sensei himself.
A heart long cooled by the jujutsu world had, because of those words, burned fiercely once more.
He had been acknowledged by a student for his ability as an educator.
He had been trusted by a student for his character and moral integrity.
He had been entrusted by a student with expectations—of a jujutsu family, of a father's love.
Within the jujutsu world, he was first a sorcerer, then a jujutsu teacher, and only after that the vice head of Tokyo Jujutsu High and a homeroom instructor. But once he returned home, he was merely a husband to his wife, a private-school teacher who could not disclose the contents of his work.
["Sensei, I don't want to put you in a difficult position, but there are some things that, if you don't fight for them, you won't have even the slightest chance."]
["I know I have my advantages, and I know I have many shortcomings as well."]
["I just want to try—just like the way you once tried with me. If you choose a person, devote time and effort, and stake everything on striving for them, what kind of future might that lead to?"]
["This youth that belongs to me—I wish to live it without regret, rather than leave it behind as an unhealed longing."]
When Yaga Masamichi lay on his side, irritation gnawed at him until he opened his eyes. What he saw, beyond the drawn curtains, was a place without light—unbroken darkness.
"Akiya… with that brain of his, he understands this even more clearly than I do," he murmured to himself.
To know something cannot be done and yet insist on doing it anyway is foolish—but what, exactly, do the truly clever see in such a choice?
Yaga Masamichi felt that he could not arrive at a conclusion too hastily.
Tomorrow—he would go back and talk it through once more.
At Tokyo Jujutsu High, Asou Akiya had signed up for this year's Tokyo Marathon in October. He passed the selection process and planned to use the opportunity to train his body while earning a bit of extra pocket money. He did all of this without bringing Gojo Satoru or Geto Suguru along—paying the registration fee by himself, picking up the race uniform on his own, buying professional running shoes alone—quietly handling a few personal matters that belonged only to him.
Before he had settled things with Yaga-sensei, Asou Akiya had no intention of revealing his plans. As a result, not a single one of his classmates knew that he wished to be entered into the Yaga household.
Yaga, meaning a "moth of the night."
Just like in the original story, Yaga Masamichi guarded the secret of Panda's creation to the end, never implicating others, never blaming anyone, choosing to hurl himself alone into the flames throughout his life as a sorcerer and an educator, a moth drawn inexorably to fire.
Asou Akiya saw his own disadvantages with perfect clarity, yet he believed he had grasped something essential about Yaga Masamichi's character.
Fortunately, the tale of being a companion student from the Gojo family was a fabrication.
And more fortunately still, the coming year would be one that turned the world upside down: Yaga Masamichi would become principal, Gojo Satoru would ascend to the throne of the "strongest" sorcerer, and the Higher-Ups would not dare to make things difficult for anyone associated with the Gojo family—they would have no choice but to placate that living calamity who had yet to even graduate.
In the entire jujutsu world, those who defied convention were hardly limited to a single person.
"Sensei, let's work hard together," Asou Akiya said softly.
After climbing into bed, he made a small, earnest wish—that tomorrow, he would meet a Yaga Masamichi who would not reject him outright.
The next day, Asou Akiya rose early and ran up the mountain to train his body. Before heading out, he generously sprinkled chili powder over the breakfasts of the other two male classmates, pairing them with reheated milk. He knocked on their doors in advance, making no effort to hide his mischievous intent, and openly stuck a note onto the food:
Medium spicy. Choose to eat it—or choose to go without breakfast.
Geto Suguru: "..."
Gojo Satoru: "..."
Medium spicy, with milk to cut the heat—at least he had left them a way to survive.
On the downhill road from the school, sweat beaded across Asou Akiya's face. He lifted his arm and wiped the moisture near his eyes with his wristband to keep it from stinging his vision, just as he ran into Yaga Masamichi, who was returning after teaching hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship, right on schedule.
"Hi, Yaga-sensei!"
Asou Akiya greeted the venerable elder who never abandoned the path of education.
"…Come with me."
Yaga Masamichi led him to a training ground—not the familiar outdoor space from before, but a private training facility reserved for faculty.
It was housed inside a large indoor building, no smaller or shabbier than Tokyo Jujutsu High's basketball court.
Electric lights shone overhead, and electric fans whirred around the perimeter, circulating cool air.
Yaga Masamichi struck a posture as though he were about to teach something on the level of Black Flash or a Simple Domain. With a sword held in one hand, he set up a [Curtain], sealing the entire training ground with strict precision, allowing no outsiders to overhear anything important. The gravity of the situation forced Asou Akiya to straighten his posture and compose himself.
When the moment finally came, under Asou Akiya's expectant gaze, Yaga Masamichi struggled for a long second before forcing out the words:
"Akiya, you moved me. I thought about this for a long time last night. Your age isn't the problem—I'll find a way to persuade my wife. But…" He paused, then asked carefully, "Can you terminate your employment relationship with the Gojo family?"
Yaga Masamichi was not joking. Awkward yet solemn, he added, "Can you do that?"
Asou Akiya: "Pfft—"
He burst out laughing, clutching his stomach as he lost his balance and collapsed onto the floor.
"Hahahaha! Sensei! I thought you were going to say something impossibly difficult—this? It's that simple?!"
"Simple???"
No matter how highly Yaga Masamichi had always regarded Asou Akiya, he was still utterly stunned.
The Three Great Clans held themselves above all others. For one of them to be willing to hire a civilian jujutsu sorcerer as a companion student was no small matter, and they would never accept a reversal lightly.
"Yes. Simple." Asou Akiya lifted his head. "I have no relationship with the Gojo family whatsoever. From beginning to end, that identity was nothing more than a smokescreen I deliberately set up for the higher-ups. My understanding of the Three Great Families comes from other, secure channels of information."
Asou Akiya tapped his temple lightly. "My mind is my most important weapon."
Asou Akiya continued calmly, "I fabricated that identity purely for the sake of studying, to divert the attention of the higher-ups."
Asou Akiya went on, his voice steady and clear, "If an ordinary person wants to escape the fate of being a pawn, then the only way is to make the higher-ups believe I am already someone else's pawn. Only then could I secure five years of safety without betraying anyone."
Asou Akiya met his teacher's gaze. "Yaga-sensei, I am free."
A human being born free smiled without restraint.
He did not belong to the Gojo family.
There was no employment relationship between him and the Gojo family at all—if anything, it was Gojo Satoru unilaterally spending his money.
He had placed three self-imposed bindings upon himself. The first was: "While I attend school, I shall never confess my true origins." Yet his true origin was not as someone of the Gojo family—but as a transmigrator.
After Asou Akiya wagered his own life to set this trap, the higher-ups were fooled by his fearless, all-or-nothing gamble and mistakenly classified him as a companion student. The hereditary nature of their system had long since bred rigidity at the top of the jujutsu world—conservative, timid, dismissive of ordinary people. In their entire lives, they had never encountered a civilian student audacious enough to deceive everyone at once.
Yaga Masamichi's pupils shook violently as the sword in his hand slipped free and clattered to the ground.
If one had to describe how it felt to hear the truth, it was like two apex predators of different kinds meeting in the wild—chilling to the bone. For the first time in his life, a jujutsu teacher who revered brute strength had encountered a jujutsu student who wielded intellect as his blade.
The black-haired boy seized the initiative, and with the first glimpse of his strategic mind in a contest against the higher-ups, he left behind nothing but shock.
This year, Tokyo Jujutsu High truly seemed blessed by fate.
Among the first-year students, all four of them were genuine prodigies. Each one is a monster in human form, and each one lives up to the name.